A veteran reporter from Arizona said Wednesday that Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, has changed as a politician over the past several years, specifically pointing to her debate performance on Monday as an example of how she has shifted over time.
"Right now, this is Kyrsten Sinema circa 2018 running against Kyrsten Sinema 2002 to 2010," said Brahm Resnik, a reporter and anchor for KPNX Phoenix. "And Kyrsten Sinema has not really put herself out there for people like me, reporters. We get maybe four-minute bursts of interviews at events. So they're not doing that."
"You saw this debate where people saw a very controlled, measured Kyrsten Sinema," Resnik continued. "And to those of us who have known her for many years, as I have, that's not the Kyrsten Sinema we met, say, 15 years ago."
Sinema represents Arizona's 9th Congressional District and is running against Republican Martha McSally, who represents the state's 2nd Congressional District, for the Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.).
Multiple videos have emerged over the past week of Sinema criticizing Arizona, and CNN published a report detailing Sinema's anti-war activist past.
"All of us who have been in Arizona for a long time, people like myself who are native born, will remember learning in second or third grade about the five C's," she told an Arizona crowd in a video shared by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Cotton, cattle, citrus, climate, and copper. Well I think we should add a sixth, and it's called crazy."
Sinema used a similar line at a Democratic event in Texas in 2011.
That same year, Sinema described Arizona as "famous in a Lindsay Lohan kind of way," referencing the actress who was arrested for drug-related incidents around that time.
In 2010, Sinema referred to Arizona as the "meth lab of democracy."
In a 2003 radio interview, Sinema said she does not care if people fight for the Taliban against the United States. She refused to address the comments when pressed by McSally at Monday's debate.